“Well, you did that the very first time I met you.” He glanced over long enough to see her blush. “Why don’t you tell me something about your childhood? Share a memory.”
Kenzie said nothing, and Micah worried he’d offended her. He looked over again to find her deep in thought.
“Tell me why they named you Kenzie.”
She shook her head. “I’ve always hated my name. Who in their right mind names a little girl after a commanding officer in the army? My father wanted a son, and when I was born, he was very disappointed, but my mother, hoping to assuage his wounded spirit, suggested he give me the name he would have given a son. She knew it was important to him. So they named me Merton Kenzie after the man my father so admired—who saved Father’s life at Gettysburg. But it didn’t help. He still regretted me. I tried hard to win him over, but I wasn’t a boy.”
Micah heard the sadness in her voice. “I, for one, am very glad you aren’t a boy.” She looked at him, and their eyes met for a moment. He could see that the memory troubled her greatly. “I’m sure you were a beautiful little girl.”
“I was as I am now. Red-haired and freckled. I take after my mother’s grandfather. No one else has this curse, as my father calls it.”
“I love your red hair. Your freckles too. I intend to count each and every one of them, in fact.” He grinned. “After we’re married, of course.”
“You, Dr. Fisher, are quite out of line. I shall think twice before agreeing to ride with you again.”
He laughed heartily, pulled up to the curb in front of Caleb’s house, and turned off the motor. “Did your father ever get his boy?”
“Yes and no. When I was five, my brother James was stillborn. It was my father’s greatest sorrow. My mother had had several miscarriages prior to that, and afterward there were no more children. I grew up an only child, and my father did his best to tolerate me.”
“I’m so sorry. You deserved much better.”
She shrugged. “I know he loved me in his own way. Especially once I grew old enough to be useful. He worked for his uncle, running a mercantile, and he put me to work there doing any number of things. Still, I always knew I wasn’t truly what he wanted. When Arthur stood me up on our wedding day, I figured I wasn’t what he wanted either.”
“You’re definitely what I want.” Micah took hold of her chin and turned her to face him. “Kenzie, you are everything I ever dreamed of when I thought of a wife. You’re all I’ll ever want.”
She searched his face as if trying to ascertain the truth of his words. He wished she could see into his heart and know exactly how much he loved her.
“Please, Kenzie, say you’ll marry me.”
“I ... I...”
He thought for a moment she would agree, but then just as quickly, she opened the door and got out of the car. “I have to go.”
He watched her race up the steps to Caleb’s house and wondered if he shouldn’t chase after her. To what purpose though? He could hardly force her to agree.
Micah heaved a sigh. Somehow he had to prove to her that his love was real—that he wouldn’t be one more disappointed man in her life.
CHAPTER
16
Kenzie could hardly still her trembling after leaving Micah. She entered the house and closed the door with a sigh. She leaned back against the cool wood and wondered when she’d ever feel free to give Micah the answer he longed for.
“Kenzie.”
She jumped at the sound of Arthur whispering her name. He stood in the archway of the front sitting room just a few feet away, watching her.
“What in the world are you doing here?” she demanded.
“I had to see you. The young lady staying with you let me in. She said I could wait for you to return. I see you were with that doctor again.”
“‘Again’? Are you spying on me and keeping a record?” Anger gave her strength. She straightened and pulled off her gloves. “Arthur, you have no business being here.”
“Of course I do. You’re my business, and at the moment, the only one I can focus on. I think about you every moment of the day.”
He gave her his lopsided boyish smile. How she used to love it. He seemed like such a sweet innocent boy when he smiled like that. Kenzie put her gloves aside and removed a long pin from her hat.
“It isn’t appropriate for you to be here, Arthur. You need to go.” She contemplated the hat pin in her hand before stepping back and opening the door.
